DALLAS, June 20,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Real Estate
Opportunities, LLC (together with its affiliates "NexPoint"), a
major shareholder of United Development Funding IV ("UDF IV" or the
"Company"), a real estate investment trust ("REIT"), today
announced its nomination of four highly qualified, independent
candidates for election to the UDF IV Board of Trustees at the
Company's upcoming Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
Following years of holding no UDF IV shareholder meetings prior
to December 2023, or elections of
independent trustees, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, Maryland has ordered UDF IV to
conduct an election for four independent Trustees at an Annual
Meeting that must be held on or before December 31, 2024.
NexPoint has delivered to UDF IV its nomination of the following
four highly qualified and independent trustee candidates:
- Paul S. Broaddus – Mr. Broaddus is a seasoned
entrepreneur in commercial real estate across Texas, operating a $200
million portfolio as the Managing Partner and Chief
Financial Officer of Riverbend Development and My Garage Self
Storage, where he also serves as President. His expertise in
raising and investing capital, alongside his extensive experience
in acquisitions and asset dispositions, as well as REIT accounting
practices and tax structuring, will help to ensure proper financial
management of UDF IV.
- Edward N. Constantino – Mr. Constantino has
over 40 years of audit, advisory, and tax experience and
substantial expertise in REIT governance. He retired as an audit
partner from KPMG where he oversaw the firm's real estate and asset
management business. Mr. Constantino currently serves on the boards
of several publicly traded REITs, including as audit committee
chair, as well as on the board of public company Patriot National
Bancorp, Inc. His extensive experience in real estate accounting
will enhance financial oversight and accountability for UDF IV
shareholders.
- John A. Good – Mr.
Good is a nationally recognized REIT executive and lawyer. He is
the Chief Executive Officer of NexPoint Storage Partners, Inc.
(formerly Jernigan Capital, Inc., a NYSE-listed self-storage REIT),
an independent director and audit committee chair of another
NYSE-listed REIT and was formerly a partner and co-head of the REIT
practice group of Morrison & Foerster LLP. He has more than 28
years of experience working (either as a senior executive officer
and board member or as a trusted counsel) with senior management
teams and public company boards in the REIT and financial services
industries on corporate finance, corporate governance, M&A,
tax, executive compensation, joint venture, and strategic planning
projects. He has served as lead counsel on over 200 securities
offerings raising over $25 billion,
with more than 125 of those deals being in the REIT industry. Mr.
Good's vast experience in the REIT sector as an executive, board
member and counselor makes him well qualified to provide critical
strategic guidance and financial oversight to UDF IV.
- Julie E. Silcock – Ms. Silcock is an experienced
financial services professional who has served on several public
company boards across various industries. She formerly served as a
Partner at CDX Advisors, a tech-enabled investment bank, as well as
Managing Director and Co-Head of Southwest Investment Banking at
Houlihan Lokey. Ms. Silcock currently serves on the boards of
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., JC Skincare, Goodwill Industries
of Dallas, Inc., and the U.S. Ski
& Snowboard Foundation. Her well-honed financial acumen,
strategic M&A knowledge, and extensive governance expertise
will be pivotal in strengthening UDF IV's financial operations and
ensuring robust corporate governance that serves the interests of
shareholders.
NexPoint is nominating Edward N.
Constantino and Julie E.
Silcock as Class II trustees with three-year terms eligible
for re-election in 2027, and Paul S.
Broaddus and John A. Good as
Class III trustees with one-year terms eligible for re-election in
2025.
As UDF IV's largest shareholder, NexPoint has been working for
over four years to establish proper oversight and accountability at
UDF IV. In making its nominations, NexPoint provided the following
comment:
"Now that four of UDF IV's incumbent trustees
must stand for election following a court order, shareholders
finally have the chance to take action to address the company's
corporate governance failures and dramatic multi-year diminution of
shareholder value. With our proposed Trustees, shareholders can
elect a Board that will represent shareholders' interests and find
opportunities to provide a path to value recapture/creation and,
ultimately, liquidity. Our nominees have decades of REIT and asset
management experience and a strong track record of upholding their
fiduciary duties. If elected, we believe they will restore
integrity, accountability, and transparency at UDF IV while working
to recover lost value.
"Our efforts have already delivered
significant victories for shareholders, including securing this
upcoming 2024 Annual Meeting, and our trustee nominees will work to
enact further positive changes. After years of opaque accounting
and financial reporting, stagnant real estate developments, and the
misuse of shareholder funds, shareholders should seize this moment
to reclaim their rightful ownership of UDF IV and support these
highly qualified nominees."
NexPoint believes that UDF IV's incumbent trustees have
entrenched themselves through a systematic disenfranchisement of
voters and have stifled any attempt by shareholders to drive
meaningful change. Despite the convictions and subsequent
incarcerations of several of UDF IV's founders and former
management team, the trustees have continued to resist shareholder
calls for transparency, accountability, and reform. NexPoint
believes there are numerous examples of governance abuses at UDF
IV, including:
- The trustees have thwarted shareholder initiatives for
accountability through acts of poor governance, including amending
Company bylaws to prevent the fair nomination and election of
trustees who genuinely represent shareholders' interests.
- The so-called independent trustees have shown disregard for
shareholder democracy: three have not stood for election since
2015, and one has never been elected by shareholders at all.
- The trustees have inexplicably allowed the Company's advisor
and much of the former management team to remain in place, despite
a history of criminal fraud at the company.
- The trustees also appear to have supported former management in
using shareholder funds to cover legal fees for their criminal
cases, uses which NexPoint believes to be in violation of their
fiduciary duty and ethical standards.
- The trustees have allowed the Company's assets to be
concentrated with one borrower who has a history of not performing
its obligations and using this concentration to influence the
actions of the Company.
NexPoint encourages shareholders to visit udfaccountability.com
and complete the contact form to receive ongoing updates about the
Company and the upcoming Annual Meeting, including about the
meeting date once it has been set by the Company. Shareholders can
also contact NexPoint via email at udfinvestors@nexpoint.com.
Additional information about NexPoint's nominees can be found at
udfaccountability.com/nominees.
About NexPoint
NexPoint Real Estate Opportunities, LLC is a wholly owned
subsidiary of NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust, Inc. (NYSE:
NXDT), an affiliate of NexPoint Advisors, L.P.
NexPoint Advisors, L.P. is an SEC-registered adviser on the
NexPoint alternative investment platform. It serves as the adviser
to a suite of funds and investment vehicles, including a closed-end
fund, interval fund, business development company, and various real
estate vehicles. For more information visit www.nexpoint.com.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
NexPoint Real Estate Opportunities, LLC ("NexPoint") intends to
deliver a proxy statement with respect to its solicitation of
proxies for nominees to be elected to the United Development
Funding IV ("UDF IV") Board of Trustees at the Annual Meeting of
Shareholders of UDF IV. The date for the Annual Meeting has not yet
been set and NexPoint is not soliciting proxies at this time.
INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE NEXPOINT PROXY
STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) WHEN
AVAILABLE IN ITS ENTIRETY BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT
INFORMATION ABOUT ANY SOLICITATION. Copies of the documents will be
made available free of charge from NexPoint by accessing the
website www.udfaccountability.com.
NexPoint, its affiliates, their directors and executive officers
and other members of management and employees may be participants
(collectively "Participants") in the solicitation of proxies by
NexPoint. Information about NexPoint's nominees to the UDF IV Board
of Trustees and information regarding the direct or indirect
interests in UDF IV, by security holdings or otherwise, of
NexPoint, the other Participants and NexPoint's nominees will be
available in the proxy statement. NexPoint's disclosure of any
security holdings will be based on information made available to
NexPoint by such Participants and nominees. UDF IV is no longer
subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934, as amended. Consequently, NexPoint's knowledge of
significant security holders of UDF IV and as to UDF IV itself is
limited.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For Information/Updates on UDF IV
Website: www.udfaccountability.com
Email: udfinvestors@nexpoint.com
Investor Contacts
Chuck Garske / Jeremy Provost / Theo
Caminiti (Okapi Partners):
Email: info@okapipartners.com
Phone: (212) 297-0720
Media Contacts
Lucy Bannon (NexPoint):
lbannon@nexpoint.com
Paul Caminiti/Pamela Greene (Reevemark):
nexpointteam@reevemark.com
NexPoint Investor Relations
Kristen Thomas:
ir@nexpoint.com
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexpoint-nominates-four-independent-trustees-to-united-development-funding-udf-iv-board-of-trustees-302178493.html
SOURCE NexPoint Advisors, L.P.